Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Most Meaningful Phish Song

So as the newcomer to a blog with 1200+ posts, it's hard to know what's been covered and what hasn't. Some would make a careful reading through the complete before posting a comments whore post like this; others are . . . well, me.

Here it is: Which Phish song is the most meaningful to you, and why? Not necessarily your favorite song, or the best jam song, or the best lyrics, though it could be any of these things. Just the most personally meaningful. The one that speaks to you the strongest.

For me, it's this one. Quiet and simple, almost unassuming, it speaks of the awe and epiphany, of the humility and messiness and toil, of creative expression. It speaks of reaching the top of the artistic mountain, however battered, and finding that you still want to climb.

one of those first runs of the song piper. Even on the tapes of that song the momentum wants to bring you into a frenzy the nature of the progression makes you feel good. reba is there most technical song and i like it alot but piper just makes me feel good.

I'm not gonna lie...Antelope is my shit! When I think of some of my favorite moments traveling to shows, this songs pops up in my head most often. Now we only have to hope they keep the Antelope running a bit longer this time!

Disease. Lyrically and musically. I always felt it was a touch hypocritical to keep singing that song for ten years. I've also often thought that it was the saddest song to ever make 100,000 people dance.

Reading all I can about Phish, as I am so stoked for my weekend getaway (Deer Creek + Two Alpines). For me, nothing will ever compare to Velvet Sea, the first time I ever heard it live. I get goosebumps just thinking about it :)

Strange Design-"Just relax your doing fine, swimming in this real thing that I call life. Can I bring a few companions on this ride?"...Also Julius-"Cause a week is a month is and an hour a day, when your reaching just pushe it further away now. With your past and your future precisely divided, am I at that moment? I haven't decided..."

"Birds of a Feather", was always a favorite. So many people dis' it but I can relate and interpret it in my own way. I always thought it was about creating your own scene instead of fitting into or getting sucked into someone else's scene. Many peeps of one scene. If you dont do your own thing, you might end up pecking at the ground and strutting out of stride.

Lifeboy has the most meaning for me because it has gotten me through so many days where i didn't wanna get outa bed. so blessed to have been there to see it on 12/30/09 WOWWW it was probably the most satisfying moment ive ever had at a phish show, curtain with>lifeboy>back on the train>wading...ahhreally? LOoove my boys. whats crazy was me and my homeboy were literally talking about how lifeboy has helped us get thru so much, THAT day. i reaalallly feel we made that happen ;)

personally i've always felt Waves is a phenomenal and perhaps somewhat overlooked tune. aside from the beautiful and insightful lyrics, i love the way page and trey speak to each other in the jam, the ebbs and flows of their conversation often culminating a beautiful trey climax. thee version from IT is a great example of this. i love the range of responses to this question

JOY.... it makes me feel better when I struggle with my relationship with my 2 teenage boys. You want them to grow up, but not so fast, and all you want is for them to be happy. We are a 2generation fan club, I would play PHISH albums when they were just born, so they have a deep appreciation for Phish. We enjoy concerts together, LOVED MIAMI NYE, it was a real experience.

Alumni Blues always had a special place in my heart. I heard it a lot when I went to UVM from 88-93, and I remember slipping it into a playlist at our graduation party. "I'm alright, 'cause I got a degree!"

Second place goes to Carini for similar reasons: "The thesis that your writing is a load of shit, but I'm glad you finally finished it."

For a very long time Slave would have to be the one - for the musical stories it has told, not lyrics. 12-30-93 and 11-26-94(ALO) are still my champs. Then in 2009 at the Gorge, with my presence there made possible only by my 18 Y.O. son (born 12 days before my first PHiSH gig), I heard the song Joy for the first time, and when they sang the chorus, it became the single most meaningful live musical moment out of thousands since the late '70s. It's a long story, but yet again, this band reached inside me and told me they just KNEW...

Since we are talking most meaningful, here, I am going to interpret that as the songs I hear that have caused me to absolutely inexplicably feel instant joy for being there to witness them every time: 1. Mountains in the Mist and 2. Corrina, Corrina. Don't get me wrong, I am not typically a sentimental song type guy, but these melodies grab a hold of me somewheres in Denis Leary's anatomically undefined "subcockles." I'd always rather hear a medulla oblangata-melting monster (still trying to find pieces of my former mental construction after the 8/22 Tweezer->Caspian audio nuclear assault). Yes, I'd rather dance my tuckus off, lose my shoes on the lawn floating rapt in the foursomes' uniquely-crafted psychedelic soundwaves. But, for me, those moments don't have the same emotional response that I can identify as in the above ballads, and because I can identify it as a strong emotional response it is more meaningful. I would characterize the response to the monster jams a more like the awe that one would encounter in confronting a deity--it can be witnessed, but never totally comprehended.